Senate vs. President Obama over Cabinet

President Barack Obama is headed into battle with the Senate over his choices for top administration jobs — and it’s not just about Chuck Hagel, his controversial nominee for defense secretary.

Jack Lew, the White House chief of staff and front-runner to become Obama’s treasury secretary, has a contentious relationship with some Senate Republicans who are scoffing at reports that he’s poised to get the nomination for one of the most important posts in government. Whoever Obama chooses to run the Environmental Protection Agency or the Energy Department is certain to run into a buzz saw of opposition from Republicans angry at the administration’s environmental policies.

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Why is Obama picking a fight?

Allen on Obama's Hagel fight

Several looming judicial nominations, including for the crucial D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, are already giving the GOP fits. And senior Republicans are seeking to delay the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA until their questions are answered over the Benghazi attacks and accusations that the administration leaked classified information to boost the president’s political standing.

The opening act of the new Congress was supposed to be about an emboldened president putting all his political muscle into reforming the country’s immigration system, gun policies and budget. But instead, Obama appears likely to be dragged into a grinding personnel fight where he’ll have to expend significant political capital to fill out his Cabinet.

With an expanded Democratic majority in the Senate, Obama could very well see all of his nominees confirmed. But the GOP will extract a price — Republicans are poised to hold up nominees to make their political points on issues ranging from the debt to EPA regulations to the Second Amendment.

“When the president chooses to pick a fight or to go through a bruising nomination, that’s got a real downside for the president,” Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) warned Tuesday. “What happens is everything backs up, and there’s enough of that problem already today.”

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Budget Committee, said nomination fights cause only more wrangling. “I think it can make already shaky relationships even more difficult, which is not a good thing,” he said. “You would think he might want to be gracious in his victory and seek more bipartisan support.”

The White House and its allies say the president should be given due deference to staff his Cabinet as he sees fit. Moreover, Democrats are quick to point out that when the shoe was on the other foot and George W. Bush was president, senior Republicans such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) argued it was the president’s prerogative to fill his staff.

“The president has announced three highly qualified nominees,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz, referring also to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who has received bipartisan backing for the secretary of state job. “We have been disappointed by comments from some, who, without even reviewing the record, are choosing to politicize this. We look forward to a merit-based confirmation process for each of the president’s nominees.”

Senate repubs are out of control, starting with Lord Lindsey Graham and Senator Jocko McCain. They get to advise and consent, not appoint. They should all shut up until the hearings open. What a bunch of sore losers.

One hearing and a vote. That is the correct option. Just remember the next time, if there ever is one, the shoe will be on the other foot and the Democrats will be more than willing to create havoc with nominees if the Republicans waste time and energy on nominees that everyone agrees are qualified.

“When the president chooses to pick a fight or to go through a bruising nomination, that’s got a real downside for the president,” Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) warned Tuesday. “What happens is everything backs up, and there’s enough of that problem already today.”

The president has to pick his picks, and if it leads to a fight, he makes a decision as to wether or not it's worth the fight. However, given how republicans will fight him on any and everything, including that which republicans once supported, he should simply make his picks and go forth.

Republican senators are motivated by a simple political imperative: fighting off primary challenges by Tea Party conservatives. That means Republicans have to appeal to the most paranoid, delusional and fanatical extreme in America. It's bad for America, and it's fatal for the GOP.

" ... when the president chooses to pick a fight ...." -- how juvenile. The president WON the election and has made no secret of his policies and his priorities. But these spoilt-brat bullies see everything as a fight. And the American people are so tired of their bleating and moaning that they're digging their own grave (.. they just don't see it).

And the administration's tired of dealing with all the petulence and bravado, costing us all money and time as these idiots do the bidding of their puppet masters and fill the media with adverserial noise. If they really "want a fight" they will get it but it won't be with the president, it'll be in their own GOP primaries. That's where the rubber will meet the road as the voters push back.